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RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

Influence of calcium on the toxicity of saline solutions to the mayfly, Austrophlebioides sp. AV11

Vinitha Nanjappa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7688-4565 A C * , Sue Vink A , Jason Dunlop A D , Matt N. Krosch A E and Reinier Mann B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Centre for Water in the Mineral Industry, Sustainable Minerals Industry, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.

B Department of Environment and Science, Queensland Government, Dutton Park, Qld 4102, Australia.

C Present address: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.

D Present address: Office of the Queensland Mine Rehabilitation Commissioner, Queensland Government, Brisbane, Qld 4001, Australia.

E Present address: Forensic Services, Queensland Police Service, Queensland Government, Brisbane, Qld 4000, Australia.


Handling Editor: Donald Baird

Marine and Freshwater Research 73(12) 1499-1509 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF22001
Submitted: 1 January 2022  Accepted: 10 September 2022   Published: 18 October 2022

© 2022 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

Context: Although calcium may provide a means to reduce toxicity of saline waters, the relationship between them is not well understood.

Aim: To investigate whether increasing calcium may result in a proportional reduction in toxicity.

Methods: Acute toxicity tests were conducted using an artificial mine-affected water (AMW) and the same AMW with increased calcium on the mayfly species, Austrophlebioides sp. AV11.

Results: Results demonstrated that there was a reduction in toxicity when calcium concentration (added as both calcium chloride and calcium sulfate together) was increased by both two-fold (+143 mg L−1) and four-fold (+272 mg L−1) compared with the AMW test solution (161 mg L−1). A further increase by up to eight-fold (+718 mg L−1) did not substantially change the toxicity of the AMW solution.

Conclusion: The toxicity did not reduce when calcium chloride and calcium sulfate salts were used independently. This study suggests that adding calcium (as calcium chloride and calcium sulfate) to a saline solution reduces toxicity upto a maximum threshold, beyond which no further benefit is achieved.

Implications: Increased calcium can have diminishing effect on toxicity or reach a maximum threshold beyond which no further reduction in toxicity is achieved. Improved understanding of this relationship is needed to inform the management of saline mine waters.

Keywords: Austrophleioides sp. AV11, calcium, ecotoxicology, freshwater, insects, invertebrates, mayfly, salinity.


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